Clifford Unchained - Nickels, dimes, and quarters. By Cliff Bleszinski.If you donít like EA, donít buy their games. If you donít like their microtransactions, donít spend money on them. Itís that simple. EA has many smart people working for them (Hi, Frank, JR, and Patrick!) and they wouldnít attempt these things if they didnít work. Turns out, they do. I assure you there are teams of analysts studying the numbers behind consumer behavior over there that are studying how you, the gamer, spends his hard earned cash.

If youíre currently raging about this on GAF, or on the IGN forums, or on Gamespot, guess what? Youíre the vocal minority. Your average guy that buys just Madden and GTA every year doesnít know, nor does he care. He has no problem throwing a few bucks more at a game because, hey, why not?

He's not saying that's a belief, quite the opposite. He's not saying they should be treated accordingly, he's saying they will be treated accordingly. I agree with him on that, and on pretty much the rest of his post.

His belief is that people who are wanting significantly more and wanting to push boundaries shouldn't bow down. His point is that we should stand up to them in the only way we really can, by voting with our wallet. Which is pretty much what everyone else is saying.

It seems that what he said about EA being automatically evil applies to him. If this had been Cliffski rather than CliffyB, we'd be (rightly) praising him for saying what we're all thinking.

Not sure why he's getting attacked for saying exactly what people here have been claiming they've been doing. How many people here have said they won't buy any more EA games? How many have said they won't use Origin?

That's exactly what he's saying you should do. If you don't like it, don't buy it. The market will decide if it's financially viable.

Jivaro wrote on Mar 1, 2013, 19:50:I am not sure what made him post this though...it isn't exactly an Earth shattering revelation. Seems like it is more likely just to piss people off given the tone of the piece.

This I agree with. What he's saying is so obvious, I'm not sure why it had to be said at all.

So...his belief is that less informed people don't know any better and should be treated accordingly? Publishers can shove the same, generic, broadly-appealing, barely improved item and get enough people to buy it? That people wanting significantly more and wanting to push boundaries should just bow down to the marketing or payola reviews? That making money justifies most/any actions? That you can only make the choice of not spending your money on a game or industry instead of trying to audibly point out its shortcomings?

I don't embrace mediocrity. Even the best of games I can identify the weak points or offer up suggestions. And yet I buy them, I have fun with them, I compare their cost to personal entertainment ratio, and I look for improvements . For the blatantly inferior products, I will do my best to call them out on their weaknesses or promote better alternatives to less informed gamers.Is he a gamer or just a caricature?Wondering if Cliffy even has passion for playing or creating games,Ray

I wonder if they would net more profit is they removed the suits involved with this analysis and dropped micro-transactions? It's not like they know how to actually make a profit. Loss after quarter loss, year really smart people.

Jivaro wrote on Mar 1, 2013, 19:50:Eh, his main point is correct even if his presentation needs some work. I don't think he intended to communicate anything along the lines of "the vocal minority has no rights because they are the minority", I think the point was more along the lines of "if there are people willing to spend the money...there are people willing to take it."

Agreed. EA will do whatever is most profitable, so if gamers don't want microtransactions then they need to stop buying them. Yelling at EA while at the same time buying DLC and other microtransactions does nothing but validate EA's models.

He is right about how people should stop buying this shit though. There are people, probably lots, that do buy this kind of shitty microtransactions crap. It's those kind of thoughtless practices from consumers that allow EA to pull this shit on us.

It works...which is why EA has been losing money and on a downward swing for years, yeah, sure thing Cliff. Lots of companies have lots of suits and analysts and they're good at losing money too. And they also try tons of stuff that doesn't work and they do it regularly. If they actually knew what works they'd be kings of the world. Cliff, try pulling your head out of your ass and coming down to reality with the rest of us.

"We choose the right to be who we are. We know the difference between the reality of freedom and the illusion of freedom."

Eh, his main point is correct even if his presentation needs some work. I don't think he intended to communicate anything along the lines of "the vocal minority has no rights because they are the minority", I think the point was more along the lines of "if there are people willing to spend the money...there are people willing to take it."

I am not sure what made him post this though...it isn't exactly an Earth shattering revelation. Seems like it is more likely just to piss people off given the tone of the piece.